Heaven Reclaimed
by UnicornPammy
Summary: Post-series fic. AyaYuhi. Yuhi tries to help Aya through unimaginable loss. Rating for possible content in later chapters.
1. Child of Heaven

Author's Note:

I'm sure this kind of story has been done before, and I'm sorry if you've read a million just like it; but, well, here's my take on the whole thing.

I could never really decide who I wanted Aya to end up with. I like Yuhi just as much as, if not more than, Toya. Yes, Toya is incredibly hot and mysterious and whatever, but there's just something about Yuhi that always drew me to him. Maybe it was how much he loved Aya; maybe it was the fact that he stepped in front of a fireball to protect her; maybe it was just how much he could still love and feel even after his mother abandoned him, and his older brother died, and his sister-in-law tried to leave him as well.

And when he was talking to Ceres about wanting to become one with the person he loves, I realized that what he really wanted was to not be alone, and he was willing to do anything to accomplish that end. Anything except hurt Aya.

Anyway, I feel that Yuhi deserves a chance to be with Aya, and Yu Watase gives him that chance at the end of the series. I think it is incredibly interesting how open the end was. It was definitely an irresistible temptation to fanficcers everywhere. And even though I don't really know where this story is going (if anywhere), I decided that I need to get it off my chest. So here goes.

Author's Note the second:

This story takes place after the end of the series, so if you haven't seen/read all of it, you probably shouldn't read this. Major spoilers, baby, totally major.

Disclaimer:

Le sigh, I do not own Ayashi no Ceres, nor any characters contained therein. And I'm pretty sure more people would pay me NOT to write than the other way around.

Author's note the third:

Flames and praise are equally appreciated; I don't mind negative criticism so long as it's constructive. Mindless, unintelligible rants will be passed among the author's friends, who will point and laugh at them. Consider yourself warned.

I love you all, thanks for reading!

Summary: Post-series fic. Aya/Yuhi. Yuhi tries to help Aya through unimaginable loss. Rating for possible content in later chapters.

Chapter 1: Heaven's Child Reclaimed

Heavy, swollen clouds the color of grief blotted out the sun, and they wept for the death of a child of heaven. Or perhaps, thought Yuhi, they wept because soon the child would be home.

Aya wept because her husband was gone.

Yuhi watched her, wishing there was something he could do to ease her misery. Aya, in her black dress and holding a large black umbrella, looked the part of the grief-stricken widow; but the way she held her son's hand, and the depthless pain in her eyes told Yuhi she wasn't simply playing a part. She had even cut her hair, and now it whipped about in the wind coming in off the sea. Tears coursing down her cheeks, she simply stood and stared at the mound of fresh earth strewn over with flowers, darkened by the rain that fell steadily upon the small gathering of mourners.

As he had asked, Toya was buried beneath a tall, stately, white-trunked beech tree on the island that had been their home for two years. Only two years to be a real family . . .

There was no gravestone yet.

Yuhi saw that Aya's son, little Aki, was confused and worried by his mother's tears. He wondered if the little boy understood what death was. Probably not. He still had trouble with the concept of "No."

Only four other people stood with the young widow, besides Yuhi and Aki. Suzumi stood to her left, dressed in a black kimono with pearl grey lotus blossoms embroidered on it. She shared an umbrella with Mrs. Q, who sobbed quietly. To Yuhi's right was Alex, who held an umbrella over Aya's wheelchair-bound mother. Mrs. Mikage had been slowly recovering from the immense shock and grief of losing her husband and her son so soon after each other, and she was still physically and emotionally frail. There had been debate over whether or not she should attend her son-in-law's funeral, but in an uncommon display of will, she insisted on coming. Though now, her expression was blank, her eyes unfocused.

Alex, who had already seen Toya die once, wore a very dazed expression; his gaze, too, was unfocused, as if his thoughts were miles, or maybe years, away, and Yuhi wondered if he was perhaps waiting for Toya to come back to life as he had done once before.

Perhaps they were all waiting, hoping, for the miracle to repeat itself.

It wasn't just Aya who Yuhi was worried about; he also wondered if Suzumi were reliving her own experience of losing her husband and unborn child. That experience had almost killed her, and more than once.

Had it only been four years since Kazuma died? A heavy weariness settled on his shoulders. It felt more like ten times that number. He cast a sidelong glance at Aya; it had only been three years since he'd rescued her from her family, on a day much like this one. She had just seen her father killed, and it was raining. Toya had pushed her out of a tree into Yuhi's arms.

_I wish I could save her from this just as easily._

A sudden strong gust of wind tore at their clothes and hair, ripping Aya's umbrella from her hand. The rain immediately plastered her hair and clothes to her body as she quickly knelt by her one-and-a-half-year-old son, pulling him to her, trying shield him from it. Yuhi, standing just a few feet to her right, quickly handed his umbrella to Suzumi, who held it over the mother and child. Yuhi shrugged off his jacket and draped it around Aya's slim shoulders. When she looked up at him, she seemed almost surprised that he was there, that anyone else existed in the world except her and her son. As if, without Toya, there was nothing left.

He'd seen that same expression on Suzumi's face three and a half years ago, when he'd found her trying to kill herself, so drowned in sorrow she couldn't go on. He'd fought her for her own life, and not entirely for her own sake. Without her, he wouldn't have anyone left.

Aya blinked as if she'd just come awake, just now recognized him. "Yuhi," she whispered, her eyes red, her face dripping tears and rain. He hated to see the pain in her eyes, and the lostness. He feared for her, he feared for Aki, and he feared for himself. Would Aya survive losing the person she loved most in the world?

And if she couldn't, would he?

He pulled her gently to him. At first she held herself stiffly in his arms, but soon she relaxed against him, letting him hold her as she cried. She grabbed a fistful of his shirt, clutched it til her knuckles turned white. She sobbed her husband's name into Yuhi's shoulder, her thin, undernourished body shuddering as emotion poured from her eyes, tore from her lungs, rasped in her throat.

Yuhi tried to calm her, making soothing noises and stroking her back. But the young widow--only nineteen years old--was inconsolable. Soon Aki was crying too, his round little face crumpling in confusion and fear, his little mouth opening wide to emit a heartbreaking wail. He let go of his mother's hand and plopped his bottom down on the wet ground, proceeding to let everyone know how upset he was.

Suzumi hurried lifted the little boy into her arms, trying to soothe him in a way similar to Yuhi's handling of Aya. But both of them, mother and child, simply cried harder, slowly being swallowed up by the grief of losing the most important person in their lives.

A peal of thunder drowned them out, as heaven wept for its child.


	2. Mother of Angels

**Heaven Reclaimed**

**by UnicornPammy**

**A/N: **Sorry it has taken SOOOO long for me to update, and sorry this chapter is so short. But it seemed important to me to write it, and to post it. So, I hope you enjoy, and I promise to keep working on this story. As always, reviews are appreciated, in any shape or form. I'm a review glutton. : )

**Chapter Two: Mother of Angels**

Aya's mother sat silent and solemn in her wheelchair, ignoring the young American holding an umbrella over her head. At her son-in-law's funeral, she thought not of Toya, but of her daughter instead. Aya stood clutching her tiny son's hand, crying silent, anguished tears. This tall, sad creature was her child, her daughter, and she didn't even know her anymore. Her husband and her other child were dead, and though she couldn't remember what had happened to either, she knew that it was somehow related to the one who lived, burying her own husband at only nineteen years old.

Well, that was one thing they had in common at least. They were both widows.

She thought of her own husband, then, as she did almost every waking minute. She missed him. His presence, his scent, his quiet way of looking at her with tenderness and a touch of awe. That look that all women want to have trained their way, yet none ever really feel they truly deserve. She missed the way he touched her with easy familiarity, yet there was still a bit of the awkward teenager she'd known.

She remembered their wedding day, and their wedding night. Although it wasn't the first time they'd been together, there seemed to be a magical aura about it. She always imagined that they created their children that night as they made love in the jacuzzi,on the bed, on the floor. Their hotel room was sumptuous, but then his father was Mikage. They didn't go very far for their honeymoon, only to the shore, but for two weeks they were away from the family. She pretended she wasn't part of the cursed Mikage family, that she was just a normal person, whose children wouldn't have to worry about some arcane ritual when they turned sixteen.

Of course, she never imagined that her son and daughter would be the reincarnations of the Mikage and the Tennyo, respectively. At least, that's what she was told. That was why her husband had to die practically at the hands of his own father, and her son at the hands of his own sister.

She was so tired of being a part of this bloody family.

A strong gust of wind sent rain into her face, and when she had wiped her eyes she saw Aya crouched on the ground, her umbrella gone, trying to protect her son from the rain. And Yuhi, trying to protect Aya from the world. She realized in that moment how fragile her daughter was, and she felt something she hadn't felt in a very long time. She wanted to wrap her in her arms and comfort her. This tall, sad creature was unfamiliar to her now, but Aya was still her child. No matter how far apart they grew, she knew that connection would never be severed.


End file.
